Trip Index
For today's morning excursion, Kaleb and I chose the long walk. We went out again as part of the "BBC gang" on the last zodiac out, with Marvin as our naturalist. It was a dry landing onto South Plaza Island. It was also the first time we shared a landing with passengers from other cruises; small boats were docked nearby in the beautiful blue bay. Their naturalists were also wearing a similar uniform, but without the embroidered Celebrity Xpedition logo.
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| zodiacs landing |
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| land iguana |
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| land iguana at the base of its food supply |
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| yes, caught that little yellow warbler again! |
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| Marvin explaining the island facts |
We took the trail towards the cliffs of South Plaza Island, where there were many sea birds nesting despite the strong winds. The view from the cliffs was stunning.
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| awesome |
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| birds along the cliff face |
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| swallowtail gull chick must squawk constantly for food, else it won't get fed |
Video of the windy cliffs, birds trying to land:
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| sea lion perched on the edge |
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| "bachelor colony", place where defeated male sea lions go to rest up for the next battle |
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| the sea lions somehow make their way up the rocks, past the crashing waves to get to the colony |
We then continued on the trail, circling away from the cliffs back to the landing, affording us glimpses of land iguana behavior. We also walked on "Galapagos marble", made from bird poo breaking down the lava rocks and honed smooth by sea lion traffic!
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| other cruise ships in the bay |
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| trail conditions weren't too bad, some rocks and loose gravel here and there |
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| it's hard to see here, but "Galapagos marble" is pretty slippery |
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| land iguana eating a cactus pear |
I caught some footage of a big land iguana taking food from a smaller land iguana:
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| another great shot of the bay |
While we were at the landing waiting for another boat's zodiac to load, we noticed there was a bit of commotion off the shore...sharks were attacking the sea lions just off the coast! We saw an injured sea lion making its way back on the rocky shore with a big bite on its body.
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| one of our zodiacs stopping to observe the shark attack |
Back on Xpedition, we enjoyed a Mexican buffet in the dining room as the ship made its way to Santa Cruz Island. I must say that the "tres leches" cake was delicious! This afternoon's excursion with the BBC gang was a dry landing and long walk led by Soto.
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| come this way |
We took the dry and dusty trail up towards Dragon Hill, passing by lots of brush and a salty lagoon. It was pretty hot; we were sweating buckets dressed in long-sleeved clothes and hiking pants due to the wasps in the area.
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| Dragon Hill |
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| lava heron |
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| rocky dusty uphill trail |
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| salty lagoon |
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| semi-palmated plover |
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| despite the heat, Soto is completely covered including a hat |
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| most of the land iguanas were hiding from the heat of the day |
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| we kept hearing a goat bleating in the distance; goats are being eradicated from the islands |
Wasps were more evident at the top of the trail; despite wearing long-sleeved neutral clothing, Kaleb ended up getting stung on his forearm (fortunately it did not leave a big welt at the end of the day). The wasps also liked to land on his black camera bag. (don't wear black!)
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| following the trail back down |
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| aha! we found an iguana in the bushes |
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| another one |
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| then there was one right in the middle of the trail |
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| offshore island looks like a chocolate chip on the horizon |
By the end of the excursion, we couldn't wait to get on the zodiac and head back to Xpedition since it was so hot! The cold towel waiting for us on board was the best, not to mention the shower afterward...
After the excursion briefing (no need to sign up as there was only one choice), we had dinner again with France, Michel, Steve, Linda and Scott, getting one of the larger tables in the front of the dining room, with Manny and Elena joining us a few minutes later. I forgot to take a picture of the French onion soup...it was just okay.
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| octopus salad, very good |
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| grilled mero, fish always a good choice |
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| surf and turf: lobster overcooked and beef a bit chewy |
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| cheesecake: people were excited for this, but the texture was off |
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| chocolate "crunchy", good! |
Tonight was karaoke night. The song booklet contained mostly Spanish songs, with a few pages of English songs in the back, varying from classics to obscure modern songs released in the early 2000's. There weren't a lot of volunteers so the brave ones were able to sing a couple of songs. I chose a song I had never done in public ("Flashdance" by Irene Cara) and that was a bad idea. I sounded pretty terrible plus, I had to turn around during the performance to read the lyrics on the screen. In order to redeem myself, I chose a second song that was slower ("You Light Up My Life" re-sung by Leann Rimes) and it was a hit, thank goodness! It helped that I was able to sing from my seat instead of standing up in front of the audience, not to mention that I also had Kaleb to sing to. :)
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| a glimpse of karaoke |
Tomorrow would be our last day on the cruise...time flies when you're having fun.
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Interesting to read about the evening entertainment; we didn't partake in any of them, but sounds like those he did had fun.
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